The ONE SEO thing that is killing your rankings right now.
What's the first thing you notice about a website?
Is it the logo / branding?
Is it the nav menu?
Is it the imagery?
If you didn't say 'how quickly the page loads' - then you're missing the biggest SEO thing.
Now hold on, did I just say speed is the #1 SEO factor?
Yes. and No.
It's hard to say what is the most important ranking signal to Google. As in, the #1 criteria that trumps them all. Because we don't know the ins and outs of the algorithm and even as SEOs we can't even agree on half the stuff that should matter. Even Google couldn't tell you this (or could they? cue X Files music).
So why do I place so much emphasis on page speed?
Have I lost my marbles? (probably).
The reason why I say page speed is a matter of life and death is because it determines someone's impression and experience of your site.
If it's too slow to load (whether the first time or in general), it's not fun to use.
People won't stick around for long on and they sure as anything won't come back in a hurry (if at all).
So if your site load times suck, you can kiss goodbye to your visitors (aka customers who pay you money).
Slow sites are toxic to your brand and your bottom line.
No one wants those problems.
Lucky for you, fixing your site's page load times is not that hard.
Doing this makes your site a pleasure to use and your customers will thank you for it.
And since page speed is a ranking signal, you get the added benefit of a ranking boost (how much of a boost is equivalent to the length of a piece of string).
And the best part is that you don't even need to use fancy speed testing tools to tell you if your site is too slow to load.
Just try it out on different internet connections, on different devices, different times of the day and in different browsers.
The results will amaze you.
Just be sure to use Incognito/Private mode.
And before any of y'all @ me - yes I know my own site's page speed sucks but compared to what it was a few months ago, it's a big leap forward.
It's time to fix the load time.
You know it makes sense.
Peace,
Jaaved
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